Spain: EC to be finally free in all public health services
February 2023. In 2009, emergency contraception pills (ECPs) were reclassified to pharmacy products in Spain and prescription requirements were removed. This was a first measure to equalize access in all country’s territory.
Last week, a new step was taken in this direction: according to the text of the Reform of the law on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Abortion, free dispensing of ECPs will be guaranteed in health centers of the National Health System in all the country. To date, only in some Autonomous Communities ECPs are provided for free in some public sector health facilities (such as emergency rooms, SRH clinics or primary healthcare centers). This was a long overdue measure (read more at “Spanish National Health Services fails to fund EC“).
The Reform eventually does not include the obligation for all community pharmacies to stock ECPs (a measure that had been discussed at some point of the bill negotiation); but rather states that “pharmacies stocks of ECPs will be considered adequate if the guarantee the normal provision of the service based on the usual demand of each pharmacy office.”
Read the full Reform text here.
